Thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) is a technique for radiation dose measurement. Thermoluminescence is an emission of light which occurs when a thermoluminescent phosphor such as lithium fluoride (LiF) is heated after having been exposed to radiation such as beta, gamma, x-ray or neutron radiation. TLD is widely used in the fields of radiation protection, environmental radiation monitoring and a variety of medical applications.
Many medical diagnostic and therapy applications require high accuracy in measurement of radiation dose. Various techniques heretofore have been proposed for attaining the requisite sensitivity using TLD, including prestabilization of the dosimeters prior to exposure and algorithmic correction of the dosimeter response. Unfortunately, presently known prior art techniques have associated therewith one or more drawbacks including, among others, relatively tedious and time consuming dosimeter pre-stabilization procedures, relatively inflexible dosimeter handling and treatment procedures, relatively complex algorithmic correction schemes, etc.